To Lie with Lions - Dorothy Dunnett [153]
Arrived at the old lady’s house, Gelis refused to feel guilt at Bel’s manifest disappointment that the boy was not with her. The child was none of her business. Nicholas was not a widower yet. Instead of chattering about the progress of Jordan, Gelis described for her the present horrors of Dean. The Castle, with three children in it since Saturday, was a place of unrestrained uproar. The Princess, her moods vacillating between apathy, acceptance and anger, wanted the children with her at all times. Further, in a misplaced effort to help, the King had dispatched his other young sister to stay, with Katelijne Sersanders in attendance.
‘Then you’re lucky,’ had been Mistress Bel’s comment, as they sat on either side of a board, eating dinner. ‘There’s a hard-working lass with a touch for young children. But you’ll ken her better than me. From Bruges like yourself, and she stravaiged all over Egypt, as ye stravaiged all over Africa with your man. She did what she thought right for the child, not for him. She doesna take sides.’
Gelis did not contradict her, for what she said was quite true. For what it was worth, Katelijne Sersanders made her own decisions. Gelis said, ‘She’s young; she likes to be in the midst of this drama or that. But she has her own troubles at present. Her aunt is still very unwell. In fact, her uncle was glad of the chance to send Katelijne away for her own sake.’
Bel looked up. ‘She gets over-tired.’
‘It may have been that. But I’m told that Dame Margriet is to go back to Bruges as soon as the weather allows. Dr Andreas and her husband will take her, while the girl is away. They felt Katelijne had done more than enough, and shouldn’t be asked to abandon her life here. They are probably right.’
‘You ken that but she doesna?’ said Bel.
‘The Princess was asked to help keep her busy at Dean. By the time the girl leaves, her aunt and uncle will have gone.’
‘That seems cruel,’ said Bel. ‘Where is her brother?’
‘He has been found some task to keep him away for the moment. I think it is cruel,’ Gelis said. ‘But it may have been what Margriet wanted. She hoped that Katelijne would marry in Scotland. The girl was young to nurse a woman in childbed.’
‘From what I have seen of Katelijne Sersanders,’ said Bel, ‘she will marry whoever commonsense tells her to, and will have as many children as she knows will be reasonable, while conducting a perfectly satisfactory life that has nothing to do with either. In Kathi, the fire burns in a different place.’
She spoke in earnest. Gelis was almost tempted to respond in the same vein. ‘You talk as if I could be jealous,’ she said.
‘Do I?’ said Bel. ‘Well, that would be foolish. It would presuppose love, or at least ownership. And even if that were to be the case, it is not the girls in his life that you should fear. Or not unless they are as clever as you are.’
Gelis pushed her plate away smoothly. ‘He is not a lover of men.’
‘Heaven forgive me,’ said Bel. ‘Could you have known Umar in Africa, and think of nothing but physical love? There are two kinds. There are two hundred kinds, come to that. And if you are going to be jealous, you had better be jealous of them all, for one of them will take Nicholas from you.’
Her gaze was direct and uncompromising. Gelis met it in the same way. She said, ‘This is not a subject I want to discuss,’ and Bel, shrugging, desisted. They rode to Beltrees next day, a Wednesday, in the rain, with Oliver Semple and two grooms to guide them.
She had expected something grandiose and found it, inside. But the buildings themselves, when they had ridden the length of the gentle grey loch and over the brow of the hill, were simple in line, although the architect had been given, or taken free rein to embellish the gutters and windows. The principal edifice was a tall restored keep, to which a new range of buildings had been added. A company of horse could have found quarters within and outside the walls of its courtyard, and the guest-chambers